Mexico, Germany, Argentina

At Alcatraz Hostel in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, I met some interesting people from different places and different walks of life.

Alberta is a young accountant from Morela whose who was taking in the sights of her own country. She was working on her English and I am forever struggling with Spanish so we spent some time practicing on each other. She is more fluent than I by a long shot.



Alberta and I were people watching in the plazq when I took this photo.

Henrik is from Achen, a university town in Germany. He is in Mexico helping to measure the toxicity and its effects in a mining area. I was introduced to him by the woman running our hostel because he had just come from Xilitla, a small town I was planning to visit.

Imelda and her husband own a tiny café in the Mexican town of Xilitla. When I first went to eat there, she met me at the door then seated me at a table with a man I'd never met before. In this café, one doesn't wait for an available table as there are only three and they are very small. Imelda and I had a language problem so she called Soloman, possibly the only American in town, and he came to interpret. I ate breakfast at Imelda's every morning and called Soloman to join me on my last day. I really like the town of Xilitla and think I could easily live there were it not so humid.

Inside Imelda's Café.

Pedro is the owner of the big motorcycle with the sheepskin draped over the seat that was parked in the courtyard of Alcatraz Hostel in San Miguel. He is from Argentina, young, friendly, touring Mexico on his bike. He told me he plays classical guitar in restaurants and bars for tips and does well at it. I didn't see a guitar strapped to his bike so I take it that he does this for a living rather than to finance his trip.

 

 

Belgium

In San Augustin, Columbia, I met two girls from Belgium who were traveling South America together. They told me they were not from Brussels, but a much smaller town. Later I wanted to ask the name of that town but they had already left the hostel to continue their journey and took a magnet along with them.